FRANKFORT -- Many Kentucky drivers will encounter at least one work zone during their daily travels and a split second of driver inattention can turn a highway work zone into a death zone.

In an effort to educate Kentuckians on the importance of following work zone safety and traffic laws, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has launched Work Zone Awareness Week, April 11-15, held in conjunction with National Work Zone Awareness Week.

FRANKFORT – Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes is reminding eligible Kentuckians that the deadline to register to vote in the upcoming May 17 Primary Election is next Monday, April 18.

“Our democracy depends on all eligible voters participating in the process,” said Grimes. “Registering to vote is the first step in being part of the 2016 election cycle. I call on all Kentuckians to get registered and then vote on May 17.”

January 7 was the three-year mark for our first term in the office. We had many goals when we came in. Some of them have been met and some we are still working on. So, where exactly do we stand and what have we done?

For those who are unaware, Bullitt County is one of the fastest growing counties in Kentucky. Statistically speaking, our Clerk’s office is the 5th most understaffed clerk’s office in the state. Even with this, we have accomplished many things.

LOUISVILLE – United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr., joined by Tracey D. Montaño, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, urged the public today, to avoid dishonest tax-return preparers and their fraudulent schemes, and urged taxpayers to pay federal income taxes on time and in full, during a press conference today, at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Louisville.

FRANKFORT –Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH) officials are reporting “widespread” flu activity to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the ninth consecutive week. Widespread activity is the highest level of flu activity, which indicates increased flu-like activity or flu outbreaks in at least half of the regions in the state. The activity levels for states are tracked weekly as part of the CDC’s national flu surveillance system.

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The Kentucky General Assembly met last Friday in its 59th day, and with one day to spare in our 60-day session, efforts to reach compromise on the state’s next two-year budget plan have stalled.

House and Senate members of the conference committee met for many hours over several days, yet in the end, the House Majority drew the line at protecting public education, while the Senate continues to press the governor’s push to make deep cuts to the budgets of the state’s public colleges and universities.

FRANKFORT- As the 2016 Session of the Kentucky General Assembly comes to a close, I have been hard at work in Frankfort fighting for a fiscally responsible budget and moving priority pieces of legislation on to the Governor’s desk.

Budget negotiations are consuming all of the oxygen in the halls of the capitol, with both sides working to keep their priorities in place.

Unfortunately, this means that there has been little movement towards passing a final budget for the Commonwealth, which totals around $21 billion over two years.

I immediately set out to assemble a staff that would make any County Attorney envious. With the help and cooperation of these employees, in 2015, the Bullitt County Attorney’s office has accomplished the following:

CRIMINAL COURT

•Assembled a team of experienced attorneys with 195 years of accumulated knowledge & experience in the practice of law to handle the traffic flow generated through this office.

WASHINGTON – With tax season in full swing, the Justice Department urged the public today to avoid dishonest tax-return preparers who fleece their customers and illegally drain the U.S. Treasury. Noting that every taxpayer is ultimately responsible for the contents of his or her own return, Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Tax Division also warned the public to be wary of anyone who guarantees a refund or who claims to sell a sure-fire way to reduce your taxes.

The Morehead family came from Scotland. The first ancestor to arrive in America was Charles Morehead, a Scottish gentleman who settled in Virginia, in the early part of the eighteenth century about 1630. He was 21 years old when he entered Virginia.

Charles was born in Scotland in 1609. His parents were David Muirhead and Anna Hardrett.

Charles grew up in Scotland. Charles met Sarah Nelms in Virginia and they married in 1682.

We’re in the homestretch of the 2016 session of the Kentucky General Assembly with just a handful of days to go, but as all good horse-racing fans know, the last quarter mile can often seem the longest and most difficult.

The process is working as expected, though, as members appointed by senior leadership in both the House and Senate continue to seek a compromise on the state’s next two-year budget in a conference committee delegated to that task. At issue are the considerable differences in the two spending plans recently passed in each chamber.

The path to resolution has taken a winding, twisty road that officials of Truck America Training would not send their rookie drivers.

But, it appears, that the Hillview City Council and members of Truck America Training LLC have reached a settlement agreement on the $11.4 million judgment.

The lawsuit was filed in April 2005 when the Hillview City Council refused to honor its contract to sell a 40-acre tract off Ferguson Lane. The company had its own tract of property and then leased the 40 acres to expand its operation into heavy equipment training.

FRANKFORT- The focal point of the 2016 Legislative Session is the Executive Branch budget, which took one more step last week in the legislative process as it passed out of the Kentucky House of Representatives on a strict party line vote.

Due to several differences from the plan proposed by our caucus earlier this week, some good and some bad, all of our members refrained from casting a vote during this initial round.

After over two months of anticipation and debate, the Senate finally received the state budget bill from the House midway through the 11th week of the 2016 Kentucky General Assembly. Governor Bevin was elected in a landslide because the people of Kentucky recognized a need for financial change and fiscal responsibility.

We think the upcoming budget will reflect those needs for the betterment of the Commonwealth.

It is with great pleasure, albeit a little delayed, that we introduce some new health department employees.

There are four new employees over the past year; Brittany Bell, Teresa Catlett, Tesha Collins, and Teresa Murphy.

First onboard was Brittany Bell, MPH, CPH was hired on as an Epidemiologist in January 2015. She graduated with a Master’s in Public Health from University of Louisville with a concentration in Epidemiology.

She is a Bullitt County native and a graduate of Bullitt Central High School.